Currently, with a further development of the communication network technology, operators are able to provide users with various services. For the service provided by the operators, user equipments (UE) may employ different access methods. Therefore, the operator may adopt different charging modes based on characteristics of different access methods. The charging modes generally include flow-based charging, time-based charging or event-based charging, etc. For instance, in a System Architecture Evolution (SAE) core network, if the UE adopts Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Wireless access Network (E-UTRAN) as an access method, the operator may adopt a flow-based charging mode. If the UE connects via a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), the operator may charge the user with a time-based charging mode.
A conventional charging framework for the SAE architecture may adopt E-UTRAN access method and WLAN access method.
For E-UTRAN access method, collection points for on-line charging are deployed at a Packet Data Network Gateway (PDN GW). The collection points gather from the PDN GW associated charging information about the bearer layer and report the charging information to an Online Charging System (OCS) for charging control, such as fee deduction.
For WLAN access method, the collection points for on-line charging may be deployed at an evolved Packet Data Gateway (ePDG), PDN GW or AAA server (3GPP AAA Server). These collection points gather charging information about the bearer layer associated with the WLAN and report the charging information to the OCS for charging control, such as fee deduction.
During researches and practices regarding the conventional art, it is discovered that according to conventional art, charging in the case of different access techniques is separately controlled in different charging architectures. When the user uses the service, if the access method changes, a current charging session has to be interrupted and switched to another charging architecture for charging control. Therefore, charging continuity in the case of a handover of the access method cannot be achieved.